Tag Archives: disaster

The Burning Blue

Posted on July 14, 2022 by smellincoffee

The Burning Blue: The Untold Story of Christa McAuliffe and NASA’s Challenger Disaster(c) 2021 Kevin Cook288 pages So fickle is the human mind that even Apollo could not keep the public terribly excited for very long after the first moon … Continue reading →

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Bringing Columbia Home

Posted on July 13, 2022 by smellincoffee

Bringing Columbia Home: The Untold Story of a Lost Shuttle and Her Crew(c) 2018 Michael Leinbach and Johnthan Ward400 pages On February 1st, 2003, the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated in the skies above Texas and Louisiana, some sixteen minutes from … Continue reading →

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A Furious Sky

Posted on November 17, 2021 by smellincoffee

A Furious Sky: The Five Hundred Year History of America’s Hurricanes© 2020 Eric Jay Dolin415 pages A Furious Sky is a history of hurricanes in American history, opening with Columbus’ attempts to warn a rival governor of imminent danger and … Continue reading →

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Touching History

Posted on September 27, 2021 by smellincoffee

Touching History: The Untold Story of the Drama that Unfolded in the Skies Over America on 9/11©2008 Lynn Spencer 320 pages When the brilliant blue skies over the continental United States became a place of confusion, dread, loss, and death, … Continue reading →

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Disaster by Choice

Posted on March 5, 2021 by smellincoffee

Disaster by Choice: How our Actions Turn Natural Hazards into Catastrophes© 2020 Ilan Kelman180 pages What makes a natural event — rising waters, a hurricane, a sudden slip of tectonic plates — a disaster? Human suffering — and Illan Kelman … Continue reading →

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The Unthinkable

Posted on November 7, 2019 by smellincoffee

The Unthinkable: Who Survives when Disaster Strikes — and Why © 2008 Amanda Ripley 288 pages   We all wonder what we would do in an emergency. How would it feel to be onboard a doomed plane, or trapped in … Continue reading →

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The Big Ones

Posted on February 5, 2019 by smellincoffee

The Big Ones: How Natural Disasters Have Shaped Us (and What We Can Do About Them)© 2018 Lucy Jones256 pages Earth is not a peaceful place; even it were stripped of all life, it would still teem with energy, from … Continue reading →

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The Water Will Come

Posted on September 20, 2018 by smellincoffee

The Water Will Come: Rising Seas, Sinking Cities, and the Remaking of the Civilized World© 2017 Jeff Goodell332 pages Complex problems of enormous scale rarely have a patent solution. There are, however, rational responses. In The Water Will Come, Jeff … Continue reading →

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1906

Posted on January 28, 2018 by smellincoffee

1906© 2004 James Dalessandro368 pages Turn of the century San Francisco was a notoriously corrupt city, filled with vice from the brothels of the Barbary Coast to the opium dens and sex slaves of Chinatown. 1906 is a political thriller  that … Continue reading →

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Isaac’s Storm

Posted on September 10, 2017 by smellincoffee

Isaac’s Storm: A Man, A Time, and the Deadliest Hurricane in History© 1999 Erik Larson336 pages First news from Galveston just received by train that could get no closer to the bay shore than 6 mi  where the prairie was … Continue reading →

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